News

Brian Jenkins

Has abortion led to fewer crimes?

His commentary focusses upon the diminishing trend in crime not only in Canada but also across North America. In so doing, he quotes from the American study by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner entitled Freakonomics (2005).

He writes:

According to the authors (i.e., Levitt and Dubner) it is the decision in Roe v Wade (The US spereme Court ruling) legalising abortion in 1973 that, fifteen years later, largely contributed to the freefall in crime. And this, in diminishing (there are 1.5 million abortions per year in the United States) the number of undesirable children, often in dysfuncitonal families, and thus fated to a shady future. It is an shocking analysis, yet may not be void of some truth.